The UserDir directive sets the real
directory in a user's home directory to use when a request for a
document for a user is received. Directory-filename is
one of the following:

The name of a directory or a pattern such as those shown
below.

The keyword disabled. This turns off
all username-to-directory translations except those
explicitly named with the enabled keyword (see
below).

The keyword disabled followed by a
space-delimited list of usernames. Usernames that appear in
such a list will never have directory translation
performed, even if they appear in an enabled
clause.

The keyword enabled followed by a
space-delimited list of usernames. These usernames will have
directory translation performed even if a global disable is
in effect, but not if they also appear in a
disabled clause.

If neither the enabled nor the
disabled keywords appear in the
Userdir directive, the argument is treated as a
filename pattern, and is used to turn the name into a directory
specification. A request for
http://www.example.com/~bob/one/two.html will be
translated to:

UserDir directive used

Translated path

UserDir public_html

~bob/public_html/one/two.html

UserDir /usr/web

/usr/web/bob/one/two.html

UserDir /home/*/www

/home/bob/www/one/two.html

The following directives will send redirects to the client:

UserDir directive used

Translated path

UserDir http://www.example.com/users

http://www.example.com/users/bob/one/two.html

UserDir http://www.example.com/*/usr

http://www.example.com/bob/usr/one/two.html

UserDir http://www.example.com/~*/

http://www.example.com/~bob/one/two.html

Be careful when using this directive; for instance,
"UserDir ./" would map "/~root" to
"/" - which is probably undesirable. It is strongly
recommended that your configuration include a "UserDir
disabled root" declaration. See also the Directory directive and the Security Tips page for
more information.

Additional examples:

To allow a few users to have UserDir directories, but
not anyone else, use the following:

UserDir disabled
UserDir enabled user1 user2 user3

To allow most users to have UserDir directories, but
deny this to a few, use the following:

UserDir disabled user4 user5 user6

It is also possible to specify alternative user directories.
If you use a command like:

Userdir public_html /usr/web http://www.example.com/

With a request for
http://www.example.com/~bob/one/two.html, will try to
find the page at ~bob/public_html/one/two.html first, then
/usr/web/bob/one/two.html, and finally it will send a
redirect to http://www.example.com/bob/one/two.html.

If you add a redirect, it must be the last alternative in the list.
Apache cannot determine if the redirect succeeded or not, so if you have
the redirect earlier in the list, that will always be the alternative
that is used.

User directory substitution is not active by default in versions
2.1.4 and later. In earlier versions, UserDir public_html
was assumed if no UserDir
directive was present.

See also

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